There are only a handful of plot devices that can be used in a sports film. None of them are ever a story about a team or person who wins every game and is just the best at any sport that they play. It is always about some underdog who rises against the odds to become the champion. If it is a drama, they are normal everyday folks who discover their hidden sports talent or find some unforeseen opportunity to work hard for sports glory. If it is a comedy, it is usually a bunch of losers who are inspired by a couch to overcome their loserness and become winners, defying the laws of nature and logic. If the team can’t do good on their own, they might be able to find a animal to do what is humanly impossible to do.
This is where we find Gus. But Gus is more then a sports movie. The most memorable scenes in the film have nothing to do on the football field. Mr. Cunnigham and Tim Conway kidnap the Football Kicking donkey but because this is a Disney film, the kidnappers are incompetent and clumsy and Gus the Mule kicks his way out of the Hotel where he has been brought to and escapes to a supermarket. There the chase is on. The supermarket chase scene provides one of the most memorable and funniest slapstick series of gags ever captured in a Disney film.
The DVD cover lists this as a Don Knotts film. He is in the film, but does nothing really Don Knottingly. He is just there as a bystander. The real stars of the film are some other actors. Gus is a gas of a film and made me laugh even when I thought it shouldn’t. A worthy way to entertain the kiddies. Oyage!"
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